Huawei’s First ARM Chip for PCs, Kirin X90 Spotted in China’s Security Reports

Huawei’s first homegrown ARM-based SoC for PCs is in the works as the company is finding avenues to break free of dependence on its sanction-hit lines. Back in October 2024, it was rumored that the company may be eyeing a Q1 2025 release, and in line with that, the first traces of chip testing have shown some interesting tidbits about the SoC.

Kirin May Come to Huawei PCs, Expected to Be Fully Announced in April

The Safety and Reliability Evaluation report for Q1 2025 (published by the China Information Security Center) mentions the HiSilicon Kirin X90, which is expected to be the company’s next PC chip. HiSilicon is wholly owned by Huawei, and as pointed out by leaker @Jukanlosreve, the chip could retain the “Kirin” moniker, previously seen on Huawei’s smartphone line.

The report has no mention of what manufacturing process, or specification to expect from the SoC, but with sanctions hitting Huawei hard, it will be no surprise if the chip hits nowhere near the performance numbers of its competitors.

Huawei, however, will look to leverage its homegrown HarmonyOS NEXT if it wants to compete at the global level. Its most recent chip, the Kirin 9020 used in the Mate 70 series, is manufactured on a 7nm process node, in a time when competitors are eyeing 2nm technology in the next few years.

At this moment, the news regarding the new Kirin ARM SoC bases its weight on one report, but with news of Huawei’s laptops being released later this year, we can expect an announcement on the SoC, too, soon.

This is all we know for now, but rest assured that we will keep you updated as new information becomes available.